Gungrave G.O.R.E is frustrating. Not because I didn't enjoy the game, quite the contrary, I think its the most fun game I've played all year. It is frustrating because of how much I fundamentally disagree with the common consensus while simultaneously understanding where those frustrations are coming from.

I think this game is a painfully misunderstood gem that highlights an era and style of game design that we never see a lot of these days, now that every game is polished to a mirror sheen and asks so little of its players. It is precisely because of how much Gungrave G.O.R.E asks of its players that I feel the game is misunderstood. Because the game has a steep difficulty and an even steeper learning curve. But at the same time, it is the mastery of that learning curve and skill that makes the game so satisfying.

Not only that, but it is a lost art to see a game that is designed solely in favor of a satisfying gameplay loop and takes a scorched earth approach to any of the bells and whistles we've all come to expect from modern action games. Gungrave G.O.R.E has no dazzling cinematic sequences or environmental storytelling. What you see is what you get, which is a solidly designed hybrid between a shooter and a character action game. And for what its worth, the designers of the game have gone through a lot of effort, both during development and after through patches, to ensure that the basic gameplay loop of shooting and maintaining high scores is as satisfying as it can be.

Contrary to popular belief, the level design, enemy design and combat design is built to make those moment to moment gameplay decisions challenging and satisfying. Experienced players that can master the game's mechanics will find a rewarding experience in ways that many recent games have not been able to quite match up to.

But despite my praise to the game's core design and skillfully implemented core mechanics, I cannot deny that there is a massive lack of consistency in the quality of the level-to-level, moment-to-moment design of the game. Some parts are amazing at testing your skill while simultaneously giving you a good time. Some parts just feel like they weren't play-tested in any capacity. Still, with recent patches, I see that Iggymob has done the best job they can to smooth out the rough edges of development and ensure that the player experience is as rewarding as could be.

Knowing the development history of this game, I can't help but root for Iggymob at the end of the day. They made one of the most unique games released in the past year and a true love letter to this genre and era of game design, all the while struggling to set up shop in a place where its even more difficult to secure funding while at the same time working with a very niche IP. The fact that the game is as polished as it is compared to more expensive AAA releases really says something about their passion.

And despite all the parts that weren't fun to play, I've still played Gungrave G.O.R.E many times over because the good of what they gave us I think far outshines the few moments where it perhaps took me more time than I'd like to in order to adapt to the more difficult and downright unfair sections.

But that does come with the territory. At the end of the day, I'd rather have a game that's this satisfying on a sheer mechanical level that has a handful of frustrating levels or portions, than a game that is polished to a mirror sheen and has nothing unique to say or offer.

So I leave my review with this. If everything you hear and see about Gungrave G.O.R.E sounds appalling, if you would be instantly turned off by a game with a simple and repetitive gameplay loop because it doesn't have enough variety to satisfy you, if the game's lack of budget for cinematic sequences makes you bored, and if a game with intense difficulty frustrates you; then yeah, Gungrave G.O.R.E is probably not for you. You should probably not buy the game.

If you like a game full of soul however and you have a strong interest in this genre, then go ahead and give it a try. I promise that it will be quite rewarding.

Nocturne HD is extremely difficult to rate and review. How would one go about rating this remaster? Do you rate it based on what is or what isn't in this remaster? Do you base your opinions on the game or the quality of the port? Do you consider pricing and expectations or just view it on a vacuum?

The important thing, to me, is that Nocturne HD is almost exactly the same game we all know and love with some changes that are minor, but ultimately enhance the experience in ways that I would consider make this the definitive way to play the game. However, this all comes with a great asterisk which is the amount of money ATLUS charged, and still charges at the date of writing this review, for the whole package.

At the near retail price tag of $50 or $60 if you want all available content, you might expect that ATLUS did work comparable to other remasters offered at similar price points like "NieR Replicant ver 1.22474487139..." or "Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age". You might think they improved the original's poor audio quality, remastered a great number of low quality textures, or even tweaked the code to make it run at higher than the then-standard 30fps.

But they didn't do that. What you see is what you get: Nocturne but in high definition, for better and most definitely for worse. At the same time, I cannot deny that playing this remaster was an incredibly fun experience because Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne is just the kind of game that holds up spectacularly, and if this remaster is the easiest or most convenient way for you to play it, then I can have no objections to that.

More importantly, with the incredible support from the Shin Megami Tensei modding community, this shallow and barebones remaster has been brought up to the level it should have been from the very beginning. I recommend trying out the HD Audio mod [gamebanana.com], the Resolution and Aspect Ratio fix [gamebanana.com], the Widescreen Cutscenes pack [gamebanana.com], the original PS2 font mod [gamebanana.com], the Remastered Opening mod [gamebanana.com], and [gamebanana.com] many [gamebanana.com] quality of life [gamebanana.com] improvements. [gamebanana.com]

With these fixes, it certainly beats playing the game on an emulator, at least in my opinion.